The Parable of the Talents in Missionary Perspective: A Call for an Economic Spirituality
Recently a missions agency executive in charge of censoring articles in his field country in Africa scribbled “Why?” to the assertion, in a proposed article, that missionaries ought to be concerned about the economic growth of their host nations. He decided to ban the article because, he wrote, Chri...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Sage
1997
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| In: |
Missiology
Year: 1997, Volume: 25, Issue: 2, Pages: 165-181 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Parallel Edition: | Non-electronic
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| Summary: | Recently a missions agency executive in charge of censoring articles in his field country in Africa scribbled “Why?” to the assertion, in a proposed article, that missionaries ought to be concerned about the economic growth of their host nations. He decided to ban the article because, he wrote, Christians should be concerned about the “spiritual” things. As has been commonly recognized, the parable of the talents shows us that we will be judged for the faithfulness of our endeavoring. However, Christians have reflexively confined the object of our endeavoring to what is narrowly defined as spiritual. There is no basis for this from the parable of the talents. Instead, it points us to a spirituality that calls all areas of life spiritual, since we will be judged for our faithfulness toward everything that has been entrusted to us. That certainly does not exclude what the parable is specifically about: money. The principle of the parable should be applied to the missionary enterprise, shaping policies and practices, including the missionary message and the way it is contextualized. If we really believe the point of the parable, that people are judged for their stewardship, then we must be concerned about inculcating the values of the good and faithful servant into every people group. |
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| ISSN: | 2051-3623 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Missiology
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1177/009182969702500204 |